Ezekiel 37

Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones

1 The ¹hand of the LORD was upon me, and He ²brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the ³valley; and it was full of bones.

2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry.

3 He said to me, "Son of man, ⁴can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, ⁵You know."

4 Again He said to me, "⁶Prophesy over these bones and say to them, 'O dry bones, ⁷hear the word of the LORD.'

5 "Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, 'Behold, I will cause ⁸breath to enter you that you may come to life.

6 'I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will ⁹know that I am the LORD.' "

7 So I prophesied ¹⁰as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered * them; but there was no breath in them.

9 Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and ¹¹breathe on these slain, that they ¹²come to life.""'

10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the ¹³breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an ¹⁴exceedingly great army.

The Vision Explained

11 Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the ¹⁵whole house of Israel; behold, they say, 'Our ¹⁶bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely ¹⁷cut off.'

12 "Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will open your graves and ¹⁸cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.

13 "Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people.

14 "I will ¹⁹put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it," declares the LORD.' "

Reunion of Judah and Israel

15 The word of the LORD came again to me saying,

16 "And you, son of man, take for yourself ²⁰one stick and write on it, 'For ²¹Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions '; then take another stick and write on it, 'For ²²Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.'

17 "Then ²³join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.

18 "When the sons of your people speak to you saying, 'Will you not declare to us ²⁴what you mean by these?'

19 say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand."'

20 "The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.

21 "Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will ²⁵take the sons of Israel from among the nations where * they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;

22 and I will make them ²⁶one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and ²⁷one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms.

23 "They will ²⁸no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but ²⁹I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.

The Davidic Kingdom

24 "My servant ³⁰David will be king over them, and they will all have ³¹one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them.

25 "They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons' sons, forever *; and ³²David My servant will be their prince forever.

26 "I will make a ³³covenant of peace with them; it will be an ³⁴everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and ³⁵multiply them, and will set My ³⁶sanctuary in their midst forever.

27 "My ³⁷dwelling place also will be with them; and ³⁸I will be their God, and they will be My people.

28 "And the nations will know that I am the LORD ³⁹who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.""'

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Ezekiel 37 Commentary

Chapter 37

God restores dried bones to life. (1-14) The whole house of Israel is represented as enjoying the blessings of Christ's kingdom. (15-28)

Verses 1-14 No created power could restore human bones to life. God alone could cause them to live. Skin and flesh covered them, and the wind was then told to blow upon these bodies; and they were restored to life. The wind was an emblem of the Spirit of God, and represented his quickening powers. The vision was to encourage the desponding Jews; to predict both their restoration after the captivity, and also their recovery from their present and long-continued dispersion. It was also a clear intimation of the resurrection of the dead; and it represents the power and grace of God, in the conversion of the most hopeless sinners to himself. Let us look to Him who will at last open our graves, and bring us forth to judgment, that He may now deliver us from sin, and put his Spirit within us, and keep us by his power, through faith, unto salvation.

Verses 15-28 This emblem was to show the people, that the Lord would unite Judah and Israel. Christ is the true David, Israel's King of old; and those whom he makes willing in the day of his power, he makes to walk in his judgments, and to keep his statutes. Events yet to come will further explain this prophecy. Nothing has more hindered the success of the gospel than divisions. Let us study to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; let us seek for Divine grace to keep us from detestable things; and let us pray that all nations may be obedient and happy subjects of the Son of David, that the Lord may be our God, and we may be his people for evermore.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 39

1. Ezekiel 1:3; Ezekiel 33:22; Ezekiel 40:1
2. Ezekiel 8:3; Ezekiel 11:24; Ezekiel 43:5; Acts 8:39
3. Jer 7:32-8:2
4. Ezekiel 26:19
5. Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6
6. Ezekiel 37:9, 12
7. Jeremiah 22:29; Ezekiel 36:1
8. Genesis 2:7; Psalms 104:29, 30; Ezek 37:9, 10, 14
9. Isaiah 49:23; Ezekiel 35:9; Ezekiel 38:23; Ezekiel 39:6; Joel 2:27; Joel 3:17
10. Jeremiah 13:5-7
11. Psalms 104:30
12. Hosea 13:14
13. Revelation 11:11
14. Jeremiah 30:19; Jeremiah 33:22
15. Jeremiah 33:24; Ezekiel 36:10; Ezekiel 39:25
16. Psalms 141:7
17. Psalms 88:5; Lamentations 3:54
18. Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6; Isaiah 26:19; Isaiah 66:14; Hosea 13:14
19. Isaiah 32:15; Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:27; Ezekiel 37:6, 9; Ezekiel 39:29; Joel 2:28, 29; Zechariah 12:10
20. Numbers 17:2, 3
21. 2 Chronicles 10:17; 2 Chronicles 11:11-17; 2 Chronicles 15:9
22. 1 Kings 12:16-20; 2 Chronicles 10:19
23. Isaiah 11:13; Jeremiah 50:4; Ezekiel 37:22-24; Hosea 1:11; Zephaniah 3:9
24. Ezekiel 12:9; Ezekiel 17:12; Ezekiel 20:49; Ezekiel 24:19
25. Isaiah 43:5, 6; Jeremiah 29:14; Ezekiel 36:24; Ezekiel 39:27; Amos 9:14, 15
26. Jeremiah 3:18; Jeremiah 50:4, 5; Ezekiel 36:10
27. Ezekiel 34:23, 24; Ezekiel 37:24
28. Ezekiel 36:25
29. Ezekiel 36:28, 29
30. Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 34:24; Ezekiel 37:25; Hosea 3:5
31. Psalms 78:71; Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34:23
32. Isaiah 11:1; Ezekiel 37:24; Zechariah 6:12
33. Ezekiel 16:62; Ezekiel 20:37; Ezekiel 34:25
34. Psalms 89:3, 4; Isaiah 55:3; Isaiah 59:21; Ezekiel 16:60
35. Jeremiah 30:19; Ezek 36:10, 11, 37
36. Ezekiel 20:40; Ezekiel 43:7
37. John 1:14; Revelation 21:3
38. Ezekiel 37:23; 2 Corinthians 6:16
39. Exodus 31:13; Ezekiel 20:12

Footnotes 8

[a]. Or "in"
[b]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD, and so throughout the ch
[c]. Or "spirit," and so throughout the ch
[d]. Lit "voice;" or "thunder"
[e]. Lit "cut off to ourselves"
[f]. Or "breath"
[g]. Another reading is "backslidings"
[h]. Lit "give"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 37

This chapter contains a prophecy of the Jews' return from captivity to their own land; of the union of the each tribes with one another; and of the glorious kingdom of Christ among them. Their restoration is represented by a vision of dry bones made alive; the place in which they were; the condition they were in; and the manner in which they were made to live, are described, Eze 37:1-10, the explication and application of this vision to the Jews, Eze 37:11-14, their union is signified by a sign or emblem of two sticks, which became one in the hand of the prophet, Eze 37:15-17, the meaning of this is shown, Eze 37:18-20, then follow promises of their return to their own land, in express words; of their being one kingdom, under one King, Christ, the antitype of David, of their sanctification; of their covenant interest in God, made manifest to them; and of his presence, and dwelling among them, Eze 37:21-28.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible